Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Garabaldi Red podcast, a Nottingham Forest podcast. I'm Max Hayes, your host, and as we continue preseason, and the Forest players are sunning it up in lovely Spain somewhere ready for the preseason games. We thought we'd do a bit of a Forest Q&A. We haven't done one in a couple of weeks and there's lots to discuss, as always with Forest. It's never a dull moment. It's first of all, Reds fan from Australia. Here, regular to the podcast, David Boldman. David, good to see you.

How are you? G'day, Max. Terrific to see you as well. I just love that Nottingham Forest have adopted the Australian training kit with the new beautiful green and yellow kits that we've seen them going with. I even changed my display wear. I'll put an Australian jersey up just to celebrate the new Nottingham Forest green and yellow. But please stay in the Garibaldi red.

Also joining us hot off the, I was going to say the plane, really. He's come from Germany. He's been following the Euros From an England fan point of view is Steve Bennett. Steve, good to see you. How were the Euros? You were at the final as well. I mean, what an experience. Just such a shame England couldn't get over the line.

Yeah. Thanks, Max. Good to see you as ever. It was fantastic. I just love that experience of tournament of football. I think, as you know, I went out for the group games at the beginning, came back home, and then went back out for the semifinal and the final. That Ollie Watkins goal in Dortmund on the whatever it was, 89th, 90th minute was just a wonderful experience right up there. The final was ultimately disappointing. Personally, I'm disappointed that Gareth has gone. I think he's probably not got the respect and credit he fully deserves, but I think in time that will happen. And now it's all about planning for Canada, the US, and Mexico in 2026?

Let's start with some questions, and we will start with some that we got on Twitter, or X, as people call it now. We'll start with this one. On X, Lucy asks, What position would you be strengthening in this summer? Obviously, Forest have been already quite busy in the market, but there's probably a bit more action to happen. It's Forest. We'll probably go and sign 20 more players before the end of the window, but Forest have been linked with many. Steve, We'll start with you, actually. Which position would you be going for this summer if you were part of the Forest recruitment team? An urgent one, maybe.

I think there's two positions that we've not yet dealt with. One is, I think we desperately need another striker. Actually, that would be my priority because I think it's really important to get somebody in and get them into preseason. Obviously, as reported, there's a personal issue with Tywo, which is why he's not in Spain. But He's fit but not going to take part in preseason again. And that's going to be a problem because then we're left with Chris Wood and maybe some youngsters and then doing it on the wings. So I think another striker is absolutely crucial. Another really fast, pacey winger to support Hudson Adoy and Alanga. They both had great seasons last year. Alanga started well, plateaued. Hudson Adoy wasn't comfortable at the start, but it just shows that You give a player lots of games and lots of game time, and then he starts to flourish. So I'm really excited about both of them for next season. But I think we need some support in that area just in case one of them gets injured, takes a knock, has a couple of weeks out of form, that thing. Those are the two areas I would prioritize now.

I'm reviewing the 25 spot squads. And if you go three goalkeepers, eight defenders, eight midfielders, and six forward wingers, or maybe seven and seven, The defenders look like it's pretty short up. There's maybe one spot free. The goalkeepers, there's still a question mark around what happens with Turner. But certainly up front, I was thinking about it while Steve was answering if Chris Wood and Taewo or Wanyu were guaranteed uninjured seasons. We had both of them fit for the entire season. Would you still want a striker to sign then? I think the answer to that is still yes. Given that that's the case, I just hope that we don't end up with a Divock-Origui style player again. I was worried a couple of weeks ago on the pod with you, Max. I said we'd end up signing 15 players. It just seems a far more measured approach to the signings this season. A far more mature understanding what it's like to be a Premier League team, and we just don't seem to have the panic around us. So I'm back in Forest in. We'll get the right players.

Yeah, you lead me quite nicely onto one of the next questions that's just come in. Billy asks on X, Forests are showing Are forests showing signs of a stable club off the pitch this summer? I think you've just answered that, David.

Just on that, I was just watching the Forest summer video that they put out, and I think there's two parts to think about the summer training video is what they're trying to tell in terms of a story when they put up those social videos. It's not like just they film a bit of stuff and the video producer just puts out what they want. They are clearly telling us and wanting to tell us that are a more united team. And you can tell by the way that they've got the the chanting for the team that won, the high fives in the way that they're acting together as a team. And you can just tell that, look, I don't think they could BS us if that wasn't real, that story of the togetherness. And you can see the players that are together. So I'm feeling really good about it. But yes, Steve, are you feeling the same? Are you getting the same positive vibes on the ground in Nottingham that I am? Yeah.

I mean, I think there's I hesitate to use the word, but I think there's a maturity to what they're doing this close season. So the signings that we've made so far look thought about. They look planned. They wanted to feel certain targets and they've gone out and got that. I'm not sure that we really needed another goalkeeper, but hey, if the 6'8 Carlos Miguel is as agile as everybody talks about him being, then why not? We've clearly had a problem last year with set pieces and clearing the ball. So if you've got a 6'8 goalkeeper and you bring in a Serbian experienced international defender, whatever he is, 6'2 or 6'4 or something, with unbelievable stats across the Italian football for the last three or four years in terms of his heading ability and clearing the ball, then they've clearly addressed that need and vital to get them in in preseason. But it just seems that everything is a bit more measured and therefore a bit more mature. It's almost that we've had the excitement of the first two years. I don't think this year will be any less exciting, but I'm hoping for positive excitement not negative excitement.

We've clearly dealt with PSR, so that's not going to be an issue over the next season. So, yeah, I'm pretty excited, actually. I was talking to some people yesterday. I'm pretty excited about how the 24, 25 season is coming together. I think we just need to be realistic about where we came from. When we won the Championship playoff final to that first game of the season away at Newcastle is the shortest period of time any club ever has had to prepare for coming into the Premier League. Plus, we We've not been in the Premier League for 23 years.

And we have so many line players.

Yeah, but also we had to bring in those 22 players at that time, because as I keep saying to people until I'm blue in the face, there were only four of Championship winning side who could play in the Premier League. And there's only one of them still at the club. Well, if you assume that Warrell is going to go, there's only Ryan Yates still at the club. So everything about the club on the pitch has had to be rebuilt.

So next question that came to us on social media was, can you see Sangare playing a crucial part in the side next season, or will he be the biggest flop ever? Which is maybe a little bit harsh, but given Sangare's performances last season, the fans, he didn't really have that connection. But let's not forget that he was a player that came in and had to settle in and everything like that. David, what do you think about that? And I know I think you caught quite a bit of it. You were telling me before we recorded this about the Chesterfield game. He looked really bright in that. Yes, it's Chesterfield. Yes, it's a preseason. We discussed this on the last podcast, but he looked sharp, he looked ready to go, and he looks what... He almost looks the player we bought for that amount of money.

Well, he just looks leaner, doesn't he? I'd love to see his weights and his fitness markers that they do preseason and when they got him in. He looks noticeably leaner. He looks noticeably sharper on the ball after Forest and the season ticket debacle. And he gave some really interesting, actually, answers. And what we did is we were live on Facebook and YouTube and we opened it up to questions and they were quite critical questions at times. And Andy answered them very well. I'd highly recommend you go and watch it. And I also think, just to throw it into the mix, a bit of communication would be better from the club, especially during the season ticket price debacle. They went so quiet and then they did one interview with one podcast and then refused interviews from the BBC for many other media broadcasters, and it was just all a bit quiet. Why not? Did the club not come out then at that point and almost explain their reasoning? And probably fans would have not taken a liking to it, but certainly maybe understood their actions for it rather than just sitting quiet and then doing an interview two months later.So a bit more communication needed, I think. David, thank you. Steve. Pleasure. Thank you very much. You're very welcome. As always, if you did enjoy this episode, give us a like, share on YouTube, follow us across Spotify and Apple podcast. Leave us a review. If you did enjoy, we will see you next time from two positive older fans and one positive young fan. See you later. Bye-bye.

after Forest and the season ticket debacle. And he gave some really interesting, actually, answers. And what we did is we were live on Facebook and YouTube and we opened it up to questions and they were quite critical questions at times. And Andy answered them very well. I'd highly recommend you go and watch it. And I also think, just to throw it into the mix, a bit of communication would be better from the club, especially during the season ticket price debacle. They went so quiet and then they did one interview with one podcast and then refused interviews from the BBC for many other media broadcasters, and it was just all a bit quiet. Why not? Did the club not come out then at that point and almost explain their reasoning? And probably fans would have not taken a liking to it, but certainly maybe understood their actions for it rather than just sitting quiet and then doing an interview two months later.

So a bit more communication needed, I think. David, thank you. Steve. Pleasure. Thank you very much. You're very welcome. As always, if you did enjoy this episode, give us a like, share on YouTube, follow us across Spotify and Apple podcast. Leave us a review. If you did enjoy, we will see you next time from two positive older fans and one positive young fan. See you later. Bye-bye.